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4 - The Great Escape

from Part 1 - Beyond Americanisation (1937–1947)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2023

Mathieu Segers
Affiliation:
Maastricht University
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Summary

Chapter 4 reconstruct how the zeitgeist, the political and economic practices, and the geopolitical and societal circumstances of the war times guided Western Europe to a path of deeper international and regional cooperation focused on free trade and valuta convertibility. During exile and occupation, European governments fleshed out plans and schemes for post-war cooperation, primordially in the domains of socio-economic and the financial-economic planning, in greater (practical) detail. Initially, however, the step from grand designs and lofty models for a post-war Western order that could ‘win the peace’ to the practices of policies of cooperation was taken via the institutional engineering in the Atlantic world, most prominently through the ‘system’ envisioned in Bretton Woods. However, the original ideas behind Bretton Woods soon proved a bridge too far in practice, which complicated global ambitions as well as the proper build-up of Atlantic-wide institutions—and pushed Western Europe to think and act ‘beyond Americanisation’.

Type
Chapter
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The Origins of European Integration
The Pre-History of Today's European Union, 1937–1951
, pp. 102 - 130
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • The Great Escape
  • Mathieu Segers, Maastricht University
  • Book: The Origins of European Integration
  • Online publication: 13 December 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009379380.005
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  • The Great Escape
  • Mathieu Segers, Maastricht University
  • Book: The Origins of European Integration
  • Online publication: 13 December 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009379380.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Great Escape
  • Mathieu Segers, Maastricht University
  • Book: The Origins of European Integration
  • Online publication: 13 December 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009379380.005
Available formats
×